Iraq - The cradle of civilization at riskCultural heritage and historical monuments

Iraq
News Digest, Part 2
January - March 2003

Iraq's
ruling Baath party officials show journalists the Tikrit museum
that was hit the night before by a US missile. Photo: AFP (22/3/03)
see also: Saddam
makes an exhibition of himself
(Guardian, January 10, 2003)

'Big Gun' of Combat
Artists Is Ready to Go Active
Michael Fay is a war artist in a city crazy for war art. Like war itself,
though, the picture isn't that simple. Although he is a Marine Reservist
who has done everything from selling car insurance to substitute teaching,
Fay is foremost an artist -- "one of the big guns" of working
combat artists, according to Lt. John T. Dyer, curator at the Marine Corps
Museum in Washington
By Michelle Boorstein on March 30, 2003
(Washington Post)

History
in harm's way
The treasures of ancient Babylon may be among the major casualties of
the coalition advance
By Paul Sheehan on March 29, 2003
(The Sydney Morning Herald)

Baghdad
will be no Stalingrad, says historian Beevor
Saddam Hussein may hero-worship Joseph Stalin but he has little chance
of repeating the Russian leader's success in Stalingrad by turning a siege
of Baghdad into a decisive victory, the historian Antony Beevor believes
By Terry Kirby on March 29, 2003
(The Independent)

Nine
objects, nine lives
It may not look much - a motley collection of bits and pieces, the bric-a-brac
of daily life. But for a group of Iraqi exiles, they are their most prized
possessions, each carrying a story of personal struggle, hardship and
courage. Stuart Jeffries meets the people behind the artefacts in an extraordinary
exhibition
By Stuart Jeffries on March 28, 2003
(The Guardian)

U.S.
Urged to Shield Iraqi Treasures from Bombs
The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) urged
the United States on Thursday to safeguard Iraq's unique cultural heritage,
citing reports that historic sites had been damaged in eight days of war
By Mark John on March 27, 2003
(Reuters)

Antiquities
experts guarding treasures
Iraqi archaeologists are risking their lives to guard some of the world's
most important ancient treasures
By David Keys on March 27, 2003
(The Independent)

War
and its aftermath threaten Iraqi treasures
The British Museum is experiencing a surge of visitors to its Mesopotamian
and Assyrian galleries as the public develops a yearning to know more
about Iraq and its great archaeological heritage
By Dalya Alberge on March 26, 2003
(The Times)

Sound
of explosions is heard more and more in Baghdad
With distant explosions growing in frequency, the city's people were carving
more and bigger defensive trenches around the city, including in the courtyard
of the Iraq museum, home to priceless antiquities, some dating to 7,000
B.C
By Hamza Hendawi on March 25, 2003
(San Francisco Chronicle)

Blown
away
Iraq was the cradle of civilisation. Archaeologists in Europe and the
US are deeply concerned about the damage the current conflict will do
to the country's - and the world's - heritage
By Donald MacLeod on March 25, 2003
(The Guardian)

Treasures
in peril
The roots of modern civilization lie in Iraq. Even before the bombing,
its ancient buildings and priceless artifacts were endangered
By Faye Flam on March 24, 2003
(The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Vandals
Deface Military Museum
Anti-American slogans are painted on 13 tanks, a chapel and walls. Deputies
don't know if juveniles or antiwar protesters are to blame
By Hector Becerra on March 22, 2003
(Los Angeles Times)

A
Week in Books: Where are the Iraqi voices?
Have an informed opinion," ran the slogan in the chain-bookstore
display above a selection of newish titles about "Bush, Blair and
Iraq". This was imaginative, educative retailing, free of gimmicks
and rich in intellectual nourishment. But where were the Iraqi voices?
Only a few have played any role in the published debate
By Boyd Tonkin on March 22, 2003
(The Independent)

Scholars
move to protect 'priceless' Iraqi heritage
The "grave danger" posed to the priceless heritage of Iraq by
military action is highlighted in a declaration published today by more
than 100 distinguished academics in the US and Europe
By Donald MacLeod on March 21, 2003
(The Guardian)

US
praise for Saddam
Thousands of archaeological sites holding relics of the world’s
first civilisations are in danger of destruction during the war in Iraq,
an expert on ancient Mesopotamia said
By Mark Henderson on March 21, 2003
(The Times)

Why
the Italians want to be in Iraq
"War will be catastrophic for the Iraqi people. But it will also
be terrible for the country’s rich archaeological heritage"
By Angela Maria Melilli on March 21, 2003
(The Art Newspaper)

'Gauguin'
sale aids Iraq hospital
A Norwegian art collector is selling 70 works by Paul Rene Gauguin to
raise money for a hospital near Baghdad
On March 21, 2003
(BBC News)

Country
profile: Iraq
American missiles hit targets in Baghdad in the early hours of 20 March
2003, marking the start of a US-led campaign to remove Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein
On March 20, 2003
(BBC News)

Timeline:
Iraq
A chronology of key events
On March 20, 2003
(BBC News)

Many
Iraqis believe U.S. wants to blunt resurrection of Babylon
If many Western antiwar protesters believe America's real motive for invading
Iraq is its oil, many Iraqis point to another treasure they are convinced
lies behind U.S. war aims: Babylon. This ancient city was the cradle of
world civilization thousands of years ago and hit its golden era during
the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century B.C. Now, it is a
repository of the Iraqi regime's ambition and fears
By Robert Collier on March 19, 2003
(San Francisco Chronicle)

Archeologists:
Don't attack cultural treasures in Iraq
Archeologists and art curators are urging the Pentagon to go easy on Iraq's
historic sites, noting that a war could wipe away priceless treasures
that are producing fresh clues on how Western civilization began more
than 6,000 years ago. U.S. military planners say the Pentagon will follow
the 1954 Hague Convention, which prohibits the targeting of cultural or
religious sites in war, and has sought information from historians and
archeologists about important sites to save them from random destruction
By Lance Gay on March 19, 2003
(Scripps Howard News Service)

Iraq
War Threatens Ancient Treasures
The looming war in Iraq is likely to take a heavy toll in terms of lives
and property. But in a country regarded as the "Cradle of Civilization,"
there may also be substantial harm to irreplaceable cultural heritage
in the form of damage to ancient structures, archaeological sites, and
artifacts
By Brian Handwerk on March 19, 2003
(National Geographic)

Protecting
Iraq's ancient heritage
Dozens of news stories and editorials about the need to protect cultural
heritage in Iraq during, and after, any possible conflict have been published
in recent weeks. Archaeologists are especially concerned because of the
looting that took place when many sites and local museums were left unprotected
following the 1991 Gulf War. ARCHAEOLOGY covered the subsequent plundering
of antiquities and their marketing in a series of reports from 1996 to
2000
On March 12, 2003
(Archaeology)

At
risk: the fragile treasures of ancient Iraq
Within weeks, some of the most important monuments, works of art and written
archives of the history of East and West could be at risk.If war breaks
out in Iraq, the dangers threatening a cultural heritage ã which
matters not only to the land where the monuments stand and the artistic
treasures were excavated, but also to our world a will be manifold. It
is not just the accidental hits known as ''collateral damage.'' Explosions
destabilize structures made fragile by the passage of centuries, thieves
clear out museums, looters dig up archaeological sites
By Souren Melikian on March 8, 2003
(International Herald Tribune)

War
risk to Iraqi treasures
Archaeologists are warning that another Gulf War would be catastrophic.
History-changing discoveries could be lost forever through bombing and
looting, they say
By David Whitehouse on March 6, 2003
(BBC News)

Bombing could devastate
rich remains of ancient cities
In the summer of 2001 the world watched aghast as the Taliban demolished
the Bamiyan buddhas. But that act of cultural desecration, horrifying
as it was, pales into insignificance compared to the potential side-effects
of an extended militarycampaign in Iraq
Letter by Harriet Crawford and others on March 5, 2003
(The Independent)

Experts
fear for Iraq's archaeological treasure
As U.S. troops prepare for a potential war in Iraq, an international coalition
of archaeologists, lawyers, researchers and art collectors believe some
of the world's most important archaeological sites are at risk
By Alphonso Van Marsh on March 1, 2003
(CNN)

FebruaryRiddle
of 'Baghdad's batteries'
Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries
and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are
now at risk from the impending war in Iraq
On February 27, 2003
(BBC News)

Endangered Art: Artifacts
just a bomb away from ruin Experts advise Pentagon on vital sites in Iraq
The ruins of the ziggurat at Agargouf tower over the plains northwest
of Baghdad, commanding a view of many miles around and several millennia
into the past. It was built in the 15th century B.C. by the early Babylonian
King Kurigalzu, and its walls have been eroded by wind and rain
By Jingle Davis and Don Melvin on February 17, 2003
(The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The
debris of history
'Broken bits and pieces are what archaeology is all about. For an archaeologist
to mourn the natural passage of time is ridiculous'
By Miles Kington on February 7, 2003
(The Independent)

January
Impending War Stokes Battle Over Fate of Iraqi Antiquities
While the world awaits a possible war in Iraq, a battle is already under
way over how best to preserve the country's vast cultural heritage. At
the center of the controversy is a group of wealthy and influential American
antiquities collectors and curators with enough clout to wangle a meeting
last week with U.S. Defense and State department officials
By Andrew Lawler on January 31, 2003
(Science Magazine)

Iraq's Ancient Treasures
in the Line of Fire
Swirling desert sands lead to the ancient rose- colored temple mound of
Ur in southern Iraq, a Sumerian city which has survived century upon century
of turmoil.
Within a few weeks Ur could find itself in the midst of a high-tech modern
war, if U.S. tanks and troops roll by and laser-guided missiles streak
overhead in an invasion of Iraq
By Andrew Hammond on January 24, 2003
(Reuters US Online
Plus)

Can
art be a force for peace?
Art was a powerful force for peace during Vietnam. Can we still say the
same today?
Commentary by Charlotte Higgins on January 23, 2003
(The Guardian)

Raiders of the Lost
Art
"Life is meaningless to us - we will protect this museum until the
last drop of our blood." This is what Saba al-Omari, the young curator
of the Mosul Museum, told me when I visited Iraq last November. She wore
a black head scarf and black gloves and hada strange, earnest expression
in her eyes and a smile on her lips as she spoke of her resolve. She was
deadly serious. Her director - who stood by and nodded agreement - is
older and did not wear a scarf
By Dan Cruickshank on January 12, 2003
(The Independent on Sunday)

Viewpoint:
Why Saddam must go
James Phillips of the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation,
argues for the dismantling of Saddam Hussein's regime
Interview with Kathryn Westcott on January 9, 2003
(BBC News)